touchscreen is relatively new (a few years). first the people who go crazy for the newest tech will dive on the first revision of something, then start crying about it's bugs & hardware failures. still today, there are terrible touchscreens being sold (& some really good ones)... but generally still too young for the rest of us (imo) to make a proper decision. mobile phone manufacturers love it because previously their designs were getting like cars - samey & boring. that doesn't necessarily mean perfection though.

i actually think BB could make a smartphone with numeric / t9 keys. wether you type with t9 or qwerty is academic, they both take getting used to. but that would take away some of the identity.